Thomas Anderson, an American technology entrepreneur born on November 8, 1970, co-founded the social networking site Myspace with Chris DeWolfe in 2003. Later, he served as Myspace’s president and chief executive officer. Because Anderson would be automatically added as the first “friend” of new Myspace users when their profiles were created, he is also known as “Tom from Myspace,” “Myspace Tom,” or “My friend, Tom.”
Tom Anderson Net Worth: How Rich is He?
American entrepreneur Tom Anderson has a fortune of $60 million. Tom Anderson accumulated a sizeable wealth as a co-founder of the social networking site Myspace and through successful real estate endeavors.
In 2003, he and Chris DeWolfe co-founded Myspace, and he later served as its president and chief executive officer. Tom invested in real estate and other online businesses with the money he earned from Myspace.
He’s now a travel photographer. Therefore it’s clear that his wealth is being used for his new hobby. He became well-known since his picture was everyone’s default friend on the social network.
News Corp Acquisition
Most people know that News Corp paid $580 million to purchase Myspace. Before the sale, Myspace had undergone numerous restructurings, creating a somewhat convoluted equity ownership pool. To begin with, the business had obtained $15.3 million in early capital from VantagePoint.
Then, in February 2005, Redpoint gave Myspace another $15.5 million. For the six employees regarded as the Myspace founders, 25% of the equity had been set aside at the time of the Redpoint investment. Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe were members of this group who sold $3 million worth of shares to Redpoint.
The Redpoint investment did come with one caveat: the founders’ portion would only be worth $125 million if Redpoint could sell Myspace for more than that amount within a year. That meant the six founders received $30 million when News Corp acquired Myspace for $580 million.
DeWolfe and Anderson each grabbed $10 million of that cut, according to the book “Stealing Myspace” by Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin, leaving $10 million for the remaining four founders to split. Then, News Corp. offered two-year, $30 million contracts to DeWolfe and Anderson.
Redpoint ultimately earned $44.5 million from its $15.5 million investment in just over a year. VantagePoint’s $15.3 million investment returned $139 million. Anderson and DeWolfe each made about $40 million from the Myspace project, including payouts, purchases, and salaries.
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Did Tom Anderson Make Any Major Investments After Selling Myspace?
Anderson tweeted, “Excited to be a SpaceX investor,” tagging business magnate Elon Musk on June 25, 2021.
Excited to be a SpaceX investor 🚀
— Tom Anderson (@myspacetom) June 25, 2021
The existence of Anderson as a real SpaceX investor has not been verified. According to The U.S. Sun, Anderson has dabbled in real estate and is currently “working” as a traveling photographer.